Review: HP Mini 1000 laptop

The Press

SIZE MATTERS NOT: The HP Mini 1000 is a great netbook, just be prepared to live without an optical drive.

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Can't afford a new laptop this Christmas, but still need an upgrade? Check out HP's Mini 1000, a netbook that retails for between $900 and $1050, and packs many of the features needed for the 2009-10 computing environment.

First, you must love the size - 26cm x 17cm (smaller than an A4 piece of paper) and just 2cm thick. This one is made to slip into a small daypack or even a handbag.

As with all netbooks - the new class of small laptops - it is designed for connectivity to the internet. It lacks features deemed essential on full-size laptops: notably a DVD drive and a decent graphics card.

But it does come with a 60GB hard drive (or, in some models, a 8GB solid-state drive), an Intel single-core processor (instead of the common dual core) and 1GB of RAM.

Due to size restrictions, the monitor is 10.2 inches diagonal, which had me sometimes squinting. And the Qwerty keyboard will take some adjustment as I often hit two keys when aiming for one. But I've learned to txt on my cellphone and would likely adapt to this small keyboard. The inbuilt webcam is probably the most discreet camera I've seen on a laptop.

The Mini is a fabulous little machine that I'd recommend but for one flaw and one worry. First, the flaw: the missing DVD drive. I still want one - for backing up files, but mostly for watching films: The Mini could entertain the kids in the car for hours.

Yes, this could be overcome (by downloading or an external drive). Second, the worry: wireless connectivity in my house was only average.

My wife's ancient HP laptop gets a signal from almost everywhere, but the HP Mini's reception wasn't as good.

Still, a great little machine.

$899 for model with 8GB Flash drive, $1049 for model with 60GB hard drive.

www.hp.co.nz